


Swear You Won't Forget Me

by BrooklynsHere_ohyiss



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Homophobia, M/M, Mentions of alcoholism, Modern AU, Other, Probably mentions every newsie, Trans Character, disrespecting pronouns, have i mentioned literally everyone is gay, mention of suicide, mentions of abuse, race is trans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-08-29 01:05:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16734090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrooklynsHere_ohyiss/pseuds/BrooklynsHere_ohyiss
Summary: David Jacobs is a seventeen year old boy who was sent to a conversion camp because his parents found out he liked boys.Jack Kelly has been sent to this camp every year for the past four years after his social worker recommended it to his cruel foster family.The two boys end up as roommates...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first time using ao3 to actually post something and i know this story is a shitty idea and unless everyone really adores it I'll probably delete it halfway through.  
> Also have i said this is my first time posting on ao3 because its confusing and yep.  
> Its 3:47 AM I'm posting this then sleeping in tomorrow.

David Jacobs leaned his head against the window of the car, he silently watched the trees and random wilderness pass by. His heart pounded nervously 

"We're almost there." His father announced. David nodded. The rest of the ride was complete silence, David, too nervous to talk, and his father too angry that his eldest son recently admitted to being gay. David and a boy from school were in his room, making out when his father had walked in. The boy, fortunately had a supportive family. David, unfortunately did not. 

After a few more minutes, David was pulled out of his throughts by them pulling into the drive way of the camp. The Refuge, the sign read, David personally thought, The Prison was a better name but he didn't say that aloud. The landscape was nice, there was a basketball hoop in the back, but the buildings looked like a prison, there were bars and almost every window. 

David noticed a man wearing a nice suit coming out from the building which had a sign indicating it was the office. David got out of the car and grabbed his bag. 

"You must be David Jacobs." The man boomed, shaking his hand. "I'm Mr. Pulitzer." David nodded. Mr Pulitzer turned to David's father. "If you filled out the forms already you don't need to do anything more. I can go to my office while you say your goodbyes if you would like." David's father shook his head and patted David on the back a little too hard.

"I think we'll be fine. After all, we'll see you very soon, after you get better, won't we, son?" David nodded, inwardly cringing.

"O-okay, sir." He stood up, might as well make a good impression on Mr Pulitzer.

"Here I'll take your stuff, we have to go through all of it. No phones allowed, they'll either go in our office or with your parents." David nodded. 

"I left it at home, sir." He lied, knowing it was in his pocket with a charger as well.

"Good boy, you'd be surprised how many people bring their phones expecting to keep it."

David forced a laugh. "That's... weird, it's a summer camp and all." Pulitzer patted him on the back. 

"That's the spirit, boy." Pulitzer led him to his office. 

"Hannah, get one of the boys to escort David to his room." Pulitzer said to his secretary, who nodded and went off. David acknowledged where he was and he watched as Pulitzer went through his things, most of it were just clothes and some journals with his writings.

"You're a writer, then?" He asked, David nodded. 

"Yes, sir. I mostly write poems." He said, Pulitzer nodded, not bothering to go through all the writings in the journal, which David was glad for, most of them were about boys he thought were cute. 

"You and I will get along just fine. You're the first boy in a long time to not bring anything that had to be confiscated." He handed David his bag back, David beamed, he had been careful to not bring anything suspicious.

The door suddenly banged open and a boy with brown hair and the prettiest green eyes David had ever seen came through it. 

"Heya Joe, how's it goin'?" He asked, his hands in his pockets and he sauntered over to Pulitzer. 

"It was going splendid, Kelly." Pulitzer sighed. 

Jack rolled his eyes. "Well lookie here, a newbie." He waved at David. "I'm Jack Kelly, pleased to meetcha!" He grinned, shaking David's hand.

David nodded. "My names David Jacobs." 

"Well then Davey, let's get going. You're my roommate." He began to leave. David sighed. "I'll see you later then, Mr Pulitzer?" He asked, Pulitzer nodded. 

"And if Jack makes you uncomfortable, please tell someone, particularly Mr Snyder or myself but any of the staff will find someone who needs a roommate, Jack isnt well known for being a likeable or tolerable kid." David nodded, slightly nervous at Pulitzers words and followed Jack to their new shared room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential tw: disrespecting pronouns a little at the end but nothing too bad, i cut most of it out.  
> Y'all are great. did you know that because you are.  
> Jack is?? Hard to write??

"That's your bed." Jack said, David put his bag on the bed. "How'd ya get here?" Jack questioned after a few minutes of silence.

"I got caught making out with a boy I knew from school, the next day my dad had already made plans for me to come here." David answered. Jack whistled.

"Damn. I'm sorry, man." Jack said, David shrugged and began to unpack. 

"You draw?" Jack asked, grabbing one of the journals David had set on his dresser. 

"No. I write, poems mostly. They aren't very good." He explained, Jack flipped through it, reading whatever one he randomly opened to.

"This is really good, Davey." He told David after reading it.

"My name's not Davey, it's David." He corrected. The only people that called him Davey were his siblings, and most of the time they were teasing him when they called him it.

Jack smirked what David absentmindedly labelled as Jack's natural facial expression.

"Well now it is. All the boys have nicknames. You'll meet them all at lunch, which is about..." Jack looked down at his kiddie batman watch and furrowes his brow trying to read it. "Lunch is in ten minutes." He said after staring at the watch for a few moments. 

"Okay." David sighed slightly. "How many others are there?" He asked. Jack thought for a second.

"I dunno. Twenty maybe, they're mostly boys but there's some girls." They'll introduce themselves to ya tonight." He sat down on the bed and pulled out a sketch. 

"I thought you said at lunch." David finished unpacking at looked at Jack in confusion. 

"Well yeah, but they'll have ta introduce themselves with their birth names." Jack made a face. "Some'a them are trans." He explained at David's confused face. 

"Ohhhh." David exclaimed. "Okay, cool. So basically disregard most of their names until they explain it properly." Jack nodded. 

"Yeah. They're cool about it. They understand you gotta do it so none of us get in trouble." Jack sighed in exasperation.

David nodded, visably upset at that prospect. "I've been here ten minutes and I already hate it." 

Jack snorted. "Don't we all, Davey, don't we all." 

The boys sat in a comfortable silence before a bell rang. "That's the meal bell." Jack explained. He led David to the dining hall. It was cold and over-lit, David squinted slightly. 

"Heya Jacky, who's your new friend?" A boy...girl? David didn't want to assume anything, waved them over. Jack sat down, leaving David awkwardly by the door. 

"Heya, Race." Jack said, the name inaudible to anyone but to Race and the boy that sat beside him. 

David jumped at a hand on his shoulder. "Are you settling in alright, David?" Mr. Pulitzer boomed. David nodded. 

"Yes sir, thank you for asking." He said, Pulitzer looked around the room. 

"Alright, I think everyone's in." He nodded and locked the dining hall door. 

"Why did you do that?" David asked. Pulitzer let out a laugh. 

"If you aren't here on time, you're locked out." He explained. David raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. 

"Alright! Boys and girls! This is our newest camper, David Jacobs!" Pulitzer announced, a various amount of greetings echoed through the room, David was fairly certain he heard one boy say, "Welcome to hell." 

"Introduce yourselves." Pulitzer said, pointing at the boy closest to him. 

"Charlie Morris."  
"Sean Conlon."  
"Jack Kelly."  
"...Isabella Higgins."  
"Nick Meyers." 

After that, David lost track of names. He was looking at 'Isabella' who looked like 'she' wanted to crawl in a hole.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I posted this but apparently I didn't? I'm sorry about that.  
> Also i changed Race's dead name to Isabella.   
> Anyways enjoy!

"Be quiet. We get caught and we all die." Jack hissed. He let everyone in the room and shut the door. 

"Okay, guys and gals, I want you to introduce yourselves and if you want, your sexuality." Jack sat down on his bed. David was sitting on his bed, everyone else were in various positions across the room. "We'll start with you, Crutchie." 

David's eyes widened. "Isn't that-" 

"It's not offensive, if that's what you're asking." Crutchie laughed slightly at David's confused look. "I makes it easy to remember." They shrugged. "Anyways, I'm Crutchie and I'm nonbinary, I prefer they/them pronouns." David nodded slowly.

"I'm Spot, I'm gay. He/him pronouns." 

"I'm Race, I'm trans and gay, use he/him pronouns if it won't get ya killed. I also am a badass so-"

"Shut up, let me talk." A short girl sitting behind Race complained, she had dark skin and cropped, messy hair. "I'm Smalls, I'm 4'10, I'm a lesbian, her/she pronouns." She motioned to the girl with long red hair beside her. "This is my secret girlfriend, Sniper, she's bi and uses her/she pronouns as well." 

Sniper nodded and looked at David suspiciously. He didn't blame her. Although he wasn't intimidating at all compared to most of the others he was new and could easily betray them. In fact he couldn't fathom why Jack had invited him so quickly.

"My name's Specs. I'm gay, and prefer he/him pronouns." 

There were a lot more. David tried to listen, he really did but it was late and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep track of all the names. Eventually after being properly introduced to all of them, they began to quietly leave. After they all left Jack and Davey changed to clothes they could sleep in. Smalls knocked softly on the door before Jack turned off the lights.

"Sorry, boys. Sniper thinks her necklace fell off in here." She explained. The two helped her look and Jack quickly found it. He held it up over her head and she jumped to reach it. When that subsequently failed she kicked Jack in the shin, he quickly gave it to her. 

"Goodnight, jerk. Goodnight Davey." She was gone before David could correct her. He laughed slightly and sat down on his bed. Jack turned off the lights and settled on his bed.

"She reminds me of my brother." He said softly. Jack looked up. 

"You got a brother?" He asked, sounding slightly surprised. David nodded. 

"Yeah. I have a younger brother and a sister." He explained, shrugging slightly. 

"What's their names?" Jack questioned. 

"Les is my brother, he's almost eleven. Sarah is my twin, we're both seventeen." He sighed. 

"Cool, I'm seventeen, too." Jack nodded even though David couldn't see him in the dark.  
They fell into a silence. Jack soon fell asleep, snoring softly. Davey smiled weakly and laughed slightly. He stared at the ceiling, holding back tears he knew were filling his eyes


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I had a short random re-obsession with Falsettos and it was all i listened to for a few days.  
> Also it's supposed to be snowing right now and it's not and im sad because i really want to get out of school on Monday.  
> aaaaanyways.  
> Enjoy.   
> This is short. But still. Enjoy.

David barely slept that night. He stared at the ceiling, in deep thought. Jack's alarm went off at six-fifteen, pulling David out of his thoughts, he got up.

"The showers are down the hall on the left, you can't miss them. Breakfast's at eight." Jack suddenly mumbled into his pillow.

"Thanks." David gathered his things and walked to the showers. No one else seemed awake. He finished his shower, he hadn't taken one since before he had been caught. He was going back to his room when he saw a rat. He yelped when he saw it scatter into a hole in the wall. He inwardly groaned as he heard laughter. 

"Don't worry, Dave, you'll get used to it." Spot leaned against the doorframe, a smile playing on his lips. 

David sighed. "I guess so." He began walking to his room. 

"How have you settled in so far?" Spot asked. 

"Fine." David answered. Spot let out a short laugh. 

"That's a lie if I've ever heard one." He scoffed. David shrugged. 

"I want to be home more than anything." He said at last. Spot nodded. 

"Yeah. At home at least you can run away." 

David looked confused.

"My folks aren't very accepting." He explained. 

"Can't you just run away from here?" He asked. Spot shook his head, holding his head up, David saw a glimmer of sadness in his eyes. 

"I tried. I got caught and when I got back Snyder had beat up Racer." Spot said gruffly. When David opened his mouth to apologize Spot motioned for him to be quiet. 

"I mean, Racer's fine. Anyways, it was nice to meet you, Dave." Spot shut the door of his room. David went back to his room.

Jack was barely awake when David opened the door. 

"If you turn on the lights. I will end you." He muttered, trying to sound threatening. David laughed softly. 

"Alright, Jack." He teased, flicking the lights on and off. Jack flipped David off and hid under his blankets. 

"You should meet Kath." Jack said, muffled because of his pillow, David raised an eyebrow. 

"Kath?" 

"Yeah. She's an editor, she'll be here today. You'll meet her." Jack explained, pulling his face from his pillow.

"Okay?" David wasn't following Jack's train of thought. 

"You should let her see your poems." Jack said, beginning to get up. David wasn't really interested in letting a stranger look at his poems but Jack seemed to admire her.

"Okay. Is she a camper?" He questioned. 

"Nah. I dunno why she's always around. She lives down the road, I think she writes about how good this place is for Joe." Jack shrugged. 

"Joe?"

"Mr. Pulitzer." Jack corrected himself in a mocking term. 

"Oh."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This long wait for an update is basically why i never start long stories lol.  
> Anyways i hoped those who celebrated had a wonderful Christmas and you will have an absolutely amazing 2019.

Within a few weeks David quickly got used to the rigorous schedule that had to be followed strictly.

One evening while the rest of the boys were eating, David claimed he had a stomachache and went up to his room early. He shakily pulled his phone out from under his bed and called Sarah. He had originally planned to call her only if it was neccesary, but the homesickness was making him sick, he wanted to hear her voice, maybe even Les', if he was lucky. 

It rung seven times before she answered. David counted everyone one, hoping she would pick up.

"Hey." She greeted calmly, David let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"Hey." He said, David tried to force tears away but they ended up filling his eyes anyways.

"I thought you couldn't have your phone in that hellhole." She questioned. David laughed slightly. "I snuck it in. The man who runs this place likes me enough he didn't even check my pockets when i got here." 

Sarah laughed and then got serious. "You should've seen the mess that went down when you left." She said quietly. 

"What happened?" He asked, staying quiet in order to not be suspicous.

"Mama cried for hours and begged dad to go get you. He got mad and left, came back drunk and yelled. He woke Les up with all his yelling at mama and me." 

David sighed. "I'm so sorry, Saz." 

"So then Les was crying. Dad said if Les or I turned out like you we'd be kicked out immediately." Sarah sighed.

David swore under his breath. "Can I talk to Les?" He asked.

"Yeah, mama and dad aren't back from work yet." 

He smiled slightly as he heard her yell to Les. 

"It's Dave, but you have to promise not to tell mama or dad." He heard her say. 

"Okay! Give me the phone! Hey Davey!" Les exclaimed excitedly.

David smiled slightly at the nickname. "Hey, buddy. How are you?" 

"Better now!" Les exclaimed, David put on the biggest fake smile he could in order to sound happy.

"That's good. I love you, you know that, right?" Davey questioned.

"Yeah!" David could practically see the boy pumping his fist in the air, it put a small smile on his face. 

"That's good. You're my favorite brother." He fiddled with the curtain, watching out it as a bird landed on the tree outside the window.

"I'm your only brother." The ten year old said seriously. 

"I know. That makes you my favorite." David teased. Les scoffed. 

"I gotta go work on homework, okay Davey?" 

"Okay, buddy. Give the phone to Saz for me." David's somewhat fake smile fell as he heard Sarah take back the phone. 

"How's it really like?" She asked softly, like she didn't actually want to know. 

"It's terrible, Saz, it's completely awful. The meals taste bad, there are some boys that work here that beat up the other kids, some boys got isolated for almost three days because he got caught trying to get food for one of the younger kids." It was Spot and Jack that were trying to get the food, they were the leaders of the group. Although Jack and Spot could argue for hours if the right topic came up, it was obvious they respected reach other and were basically brothers. 

"That's terrible." Sarah was silent for a moment. "I have to go mom is pulling in, I love you, Dave." 

And before David could even say goodbye she had hung up. 

Davey let out a bitter laugh and turned around the put his phone away, only too see Sniper staring at his phone with a shocked look on her face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeehaw kiddies, new semester is killing me but i got this up after forever.

Sniper looked from him to the phone and then back at him. David opened his mouth to say something but before a single word left his mouth Sniper had left. David sank onto the bed, his heart thudded loudly, causing ringing in his ears. 

Luckily for David, Sniper didn't mention the phone, but it was also that he didn't ever speak to her and she seemed quiet and reserved, plus Smalls was glued to her side at all times so David never got the chance to approach her. It wasn't until a few days later when he saw her. 

He was sitting on the porch steps reading when she came and sat beside him. 

"Could I use your phone?" She asked in a hushed tone. David looked up at her in confusion. 

"Why?" Sniper sighed and was silent for a few moments.

"I have older siblings who support me. I want to call them and talk to them, I haven't been able to for months." Sniper admitted at last. Davids heart broke for her, she was  even younger than him, maybe fifteen at the oldest. 

"Of course, just make sure you put it back." He smiled at her and she returned an ever-so-slight smile before going back upstairs. 

"That's real nice of ya, Davey."

David jumped at the suddenness of Jack's voice as she came outside. 

"Oh, it's nothing." He shrugged. Jack huffed and stood beside David.

"Sniper's a lot quieter recently. Oh, you shoulda seen her when she arrived. She slapped Snyder. It was like she was a wild cat." Jack chuckled bitterly. David looked at the ground, trying to imagine the quiet girl trying to slap anyone. "But after that... she kinda just went quiet. I dunno what they threatened, but it was bad enough she stopped fighting." Jack finished his story with a heavy sigh. David wasn't prone to get angry quickly but he was, he hit the railing causing Jack to jump at the sudden noise.

"That's not fair! She shouldn't lose her whole damn personality just because she isn't straight." David ranted, Jack huffed. 

"Yeah, 'cause we totally all wanted to be here." He drawled. David rolled his eyes and continued. Jack stopped listening to David and looked at the boy. David was cute when he got angry, Jack thought to himself. Of course, he thought David was cute most of the time. Jack suddenly realized Davey was still ranting and had mentioned the police. 

"Nuh uh, Dave, don't get the police involved." Jack shook his head. 

"But-"

"No police, Davey. Absolutely no police. If you can find a way to let us out of this hellhole, great, I'll help ya. But do not involve the police. Most of these kids have had run-ins with the cops already." Jack protested. David frowned.

"I don't know, Jack." David felt a little helpless.

"Figure it out." Jack patted him on the back and went inside as the bell for lunch rang.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but like, cute with a little dash of Sprace at the end so i can advance plot this week so i can be done this and work on oneshots which is what i should have done in the first place because i cant carry stuff through.

David and Katherine got along a lot more than Jack had expected, not that he was complaining. It was probably really good for David to have someone who understood his love for books and writing, Jack decided after listening to the two of them argue for three solid hours about whether or not Atticus Finch was a good person or not.

Not that Jack was jealous or anything. Absolutely not. 

Okay, so maybe Jack was kind of jealous, but he was happy that David was enjoying having another bookish person to talk to.

Jack didn't think anything of David when he first met him, David was just another kid stuck in a crappy situation. That was until he really got to know him. David was smart and quick-witted. 

Jack did not have a crush on his roommate.

\-------------------

David came into the room much later than lights out, he and Katherine had stayed up discussing classic literature while she finished various office tasks for Pulitzer, who had added his own opinions (most of which David completely disagreed with) into their conversation. But by the time David finally went to bed Jack was fast asleep, sprawled out on the bed, one of his hands dangling off the edge of the bed. 

David chuckled quietly and changed, sitting down on his own bed and watching the rise and fall of Jack's chest. He really liked Jack and his confident dimeanor, but he wouldn't ever tell Jack that.

David liked Jack and if they had met anywhere other than this hell, he might have even asked him out or something. But not here where they were stuck. 

\---------------

"Do you wanna bet that Jack and Davey will hook up?" Race whispered, leaning his head on Spot's shoulder as he watched David argue with Jack about some trivial matter. 

"No. If they haven't already, they totally will." Spot scoffed. "They fight like an old married couple." 

It was true. Jack and David fought and teased each other about anything they could. Race teased Jack about it all the time but Jack refused to admit he liked David, even though Race thought it was pretty obvious it was.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which plot almost actually happens, wow.   
> Hmskskdjzjzs i need to finish this because i got a really good AU idea but if i start it i will unintentionally forget this one.

David felt like he had began giving out drugs or something illegal. In reality he was just letting people use his phone, which was just as bad, considering it was breaking the rules. Sniper used it to call her siblings, Crutchie constantly asked if he could use it to look up pictures of puppies, Jack used it to find new pictures to paint, and David was pretty sure it was Race who kept downloading Flappy Bird. One night David opened his phone to find a landscape, and about ten pictures of the desert saved onto his phone in a new album called 'pls dont delete this dave'. He chuckled and looked through them.  

"The desert?" He raised an eyebrow at Jack, who looked up from a painting. 

"Santa Fe." He corrected, putting a paint brush in his mouth so he could fix a speck of paint that landed in the wrong spot. 

"What's so special about Santa Fe?" 

"Everything. It's pretty. I want to move there." He admitted, painting again. 

"To the hot desert, where it gets, very hot?" 

"Yep." He said, popping the 'p' for emphasis. 

"Aren't you the one who turned the thermostat down to 50 degrees because it was too hot?" 

"Yeah, what's that got to do with anything?" Jack grumbled, looking up from the painting. 

"Santa Fe is the desert, there is lots of sun, so much heat, snakes, spiders, and so many insects." David pointed out. Jack chuckled. 

"Better than New York with the smog and buildings." Jack replied, David shrugged. He didn't mind the smog and building, even if they got annoying sometimes, there was always something to do.

"Why Santa Fe of all places?" 

"Dunno, my mom was from there, it's a special place." Jack explained, sitting back and inspecting his work. 

"Oh, okay." David decided not to push anymore, and continued to scroll through his phone. Jack was silent as he scrutinized his work. The calm silence was interrupted by harsh banging on the door. 

David threw the phone under his pillow and opened the door. Romeo stood in front of the door. 

"Snyder wants everyone downstairs and he's pissed." He rattled in one breath and ran to the next door. David passed Jack a confused look as they went downstairs. 

"How nice of you to join us, Kelly." Snyder said coldly, David saw Jack tense like he always did when Snyder walked into a room. 

The rest of the boys came in through the door, all wearing the same mask of confusion. 

David looked through them. "Where's Crutchie?" He whispered to Jack, who seemed to notice the sunny, blond boy was gone. 

"Hopefully everyone is here." Snyder shut the door loudly, Jack and the other boys flinched. "I called you down here to inform you that Charlie won't be around for a few days. His smart mouth finally got him in trouble." 

Shouts of protests went up from the room but Davey wasnt one of them, he heart thudded. Crutchie was getting over a slight cough, not getting proper nutrients could really hurt his health.

"What'd he do to you?" Jack asked loudly. 

"None of your business. Now back to your rooms, lights out in five minutes." 

A murmur arose from the boys as they quickly went back to their rooms. David sat down on the bed and sighed. 

"We gotta do something, Jack." He said. Jack nodded and stared at the painting. 

"Yeah. But how?" He inquired, his hand reaching for his paintbrush and then stopping.

"Protesting won't work because theres no one to see it. You don't want to call an authority-" 

"If Crutchie is really badly hurt you have to call the cops. I don't want him to die just because I'm too chicken to call the cops." Jack said quickly, as if he almost regretted saying that. 

David nodded slowly. "Alright, Jack. Maybe Katherine could help?" 

Jack smiled slightly. "You can ask her in the morning."


End file.
